


You See The Money?

by exolimelight, wistfullywishing



Category: EXO (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Office, CEO Byun Baekhyun, EXOLimelight2017, Famous!AU, Fluff and Angst, Happy Ending, Light Angst, M/M, Secretary Kim Jongdae
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-10-26
Updated: 2017-10-26
Packaged: 2019-01-23 12:30:21
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 10,747
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12507456
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/exolimelight/pseuds/exolimelight, https://archiveofourown.org/users/wistfullywishing/pseuds/wistfullywishing
Summary: CEO Byun Baekhyun is in need of a secretary and ends up hiring Kim Jongdae, who is in desperate need of money.





	You See The Money?

**Author's Note:**

> Prompt #: 84  
> Pairing/Main character(s): Baekhyun/Chen  
> Rating: T  
> Word Count: 10,795  
> Warning(s): tiny bit of angst but other than that none

As he watches Chief Financial Officer Kim Junmyeon - knocking over piles of papers on his desk in search of a set of folders he misplaced - from the doorway to Junmyeon’s office, Baekhyun, CEO of Byun Talent Agencies, decides that it would a fantastic idea to hire a new secretary for their executive floor to help take some of the less important paperwork off his senior employees’ shoulders.

But not a girl. Because Baekhyun has seen all too many businessmen make the fatal mistake of hooking up with their secretary - and in this high-profile world, scandals have permanent, lasting effects. He worked hard to get to this point, and he’s not about to throw it all away for a fling. And the same goes for his junior executives: no one is going to sully the Byun family name by appearing in the tabloids.

Besides, he can’t afford to get distracted from his job now, not when he’s on the verge of making the Top 10 on _Forbes_ Korea Power Celebrity. So that means no temptations.

Okay, then he’ll hire a guy - because Baekhyun is pretty sure he’s only into girls.

Mind firmly made up, Baekhyun bangs loudly on the wall next to the door, startling Junmyeon into spilling a cup of pens. “JUNMYEON,” he hollers (rather unnecessarily, considering they’re only a few feet away), “I want you to go down to lower management and tell them that their most competent intern is getting a major promotion!”

Poor Junmyeon looks about ready to pass out. “And then take the day off and get some rest,” Baekhyun adds worriedly. “There’s no need to work yourself to death.”

\---

“CHANYEOL,” Jongdae yells, throwing open the door to their shared apartment without much preamble. “YOU’RE NOT GOING TO BELIEVE WHAT HAPPENED AT WORK TODAY.”

“Please tone down your volume,” Chanyeol frowns from his spot on the couch. Without looking up from his phone, he tosses a pillow at Jongdae, who dodges it easily. “But what happened?”

“I GOT PROMOTED,” Jongdae screams directly into his best friend’s ear.

“That’s great, Jongdae, but _please_ -”

“No, Chanyeol, you don’t understand,” Jongdae is jumping up and down now, “I GOT PROMOTED TO THE EXECUTIVE FLOOR. I WENT FROM BEING AN INTERN TO BEING BYUN BAEKHYUN’S SECRETARY.”

A moment of silence.

“What the _hell_ ,” Chanyeol demands, his voice steadily rising as he finally looks up from his game of Candy Crush. “Are you serious?”

When Jongdae nods, Chanyeol manages to stay composed for all of two seconds before he shrieks, scrambles up from the couch, and starts jumping up and down with his roommate.

“Holy crap, you’re going to directly work for _the_ Byun Baekhyun,” Chanyeol almost falls over himself as he flails around wildly. “Do you think he’s really as horrible as everyone says?”

“I don’t know!” Jongdae screams back, nearly out of breath. “But he’s the same age as us, and while we’re saving pennies to afford the rent and drowning in the debt of graduate school, he’s sitting as the CEO of his father’s company!”

“Imagine being born into a rich family and having a six hundred-million-dollar company passed down to you. And he’s so rude, too.” Chanyeol’s eyes widen as he realizes something. “Wait, he’s probably just hired you to pass more work off to someone else. Poor Jongdae, you’re about to be worked to death.”

“I read somewhere that Kim Junmyeon is about to collapse from all the pressure, and that Do Kyungsoo is in therapy.” Jongdae inhales deeply. “Okay, wait, stop jumping or I’m going to pass out.”

Chanyeol stops jumping and his hands go to Jongdae’s shoulders. “Are you okay?”

“Yeah, yeah- just give me a moment-”

“Be right back, I’m going to get you some water-”

“Thanks, Park- I’m just going to have a seat-”

“You know,” Chanyeol says thoughtfully when he returns with a glass of cold liquid and passes it to Jongdae. “You know what would guarantee you a steep and steady salary forever? If you managed to sleep with him.”

Jongdae chokes on his water, spilling it over himself. “What?” he asks, sending his best friend an incredulous look as he pats down his clothes. “You’ve got to be kidding.”

“Look,” Chanyeol says plainly, “I know that’s like, a terrible thing to do. But if anyone should blackmail him, you’re probably the tamest choice; the worst you’ll make him do is pay your tuition before your credit company comes for you.”

“That _is_ a terrible thing to do, Park Chanyeol, I can’t believe the nerve of you.”

“You haven’t said no yet, though.”

Jongdae looks down at his hands with a grimace. “I don’t want to do that, but I’m also really, really desperate,” he says quietly. “You know I can’t get kicked out of grad school.”

“I know.” Chanyeol takes the empty cup from Jongdae and places it on the coffee table before pulling his friend into his arms. “You worked harder than anyone else I know from high school.” He doesn’t mention Jongdae’s family - he knows how much they’re struggling as it is and that Jongdae won’t be able to expect help there. The whole situation is tough.

“I don’t know what to do, Chanyeol,” Jongdae sniffles into Chanyeol’s shirt, his words muffled by the fabric. “Do you think I’ll get a paycheck before my payment to the university is due?” He’s just trying to console himself at this point; they both know just a few paychecks won’t be enough.

Chanyeol tries again. “If it makes you feel better, don’t you think Baekhyun kind of deserves it? Last I read, all he does is make his idols’ lives a living hell as long as it fattens his wallet.” He doesn’t particularly like the idea either, but they really are out of options.

Jongdae takes in a deep gulp of oxygen, holds it for a few seconds while his eyelids flutter shut, and then lets all the air rush out of his lungs in a loud exhale. “I don’t really have a choice, do I?” He throws his hands up in the air. “Guess I’ll do it.”

\---

The new secretary is efficient, well-mannered, and altogether an excellent addition to the floor. In the short two weeks that he’s been at his job, he’s already completed the entire corporate meeting schedule for the rest of the month and the coming one, created a new system for all the files, and somehow gotten Kyungsoo to like him.

Baekhyun thinks it’s kind of a pity that Jongdae is working a secretarial job when it’s clear that he’s young, smart, and capable of so much more. Honestly, Kyungsoo doesn’t like anyone. Kyungsoo doesn’t even like _him_ , and he’s the one who holds his paychecks.

It might have to do with how Jongdae is so friendly and positive all the time. He’s like the first bright rays of sunshine after a thunderstorm, something that the office was missing all along, and it’s completely changed the mood and atmosphere of the entire floor, getting everyone to warm up to each other.

Last Monday morning, Kyungsoo brought in cookies for the entire floor. Baekhyun immediately assumed that they were poisoned, and so must have everyone else because they remained untouched until Jongdae waltzed in, made a beeline for the free food, and bit into a chocolate chip one on the spot.

Everyone anxiously waited to see if he would start foaming at the mouth, but when Jongdae still remained alive and well after five minutes, it became clear that the cookies were safe, and everyone converged upon them like hungry vultures. And then everyone swarmed Kyungsoo and begged him to bake more because they were that delicious. Of course he scowled the infamous Kyungsoo scowl and refused to.

During lunch break, Jongdae disappeared into the break room hot on Kyungsoo’s heels with a wrapped rectangle (that Baekhyun later learned was a copy of the manga _Prince of Tennis_ ) behind his back, and then twenty minutes later they both came out laughing. Baekhyun was _not_ jealous.

Kyungsoo brought cookies again the next day.

Part of Baekhyun still thinks that Jongdae is a supernatural being because there are feats in this world that he did not consider _possible_ , and yet Jongdae has managed to complete them against all odds.

Jongdae is charming, yet not overly flirty. He’s respectful, but is still capable of constructively arguing for his own opinions. And Baekhyun’s favorite quality about him is that he neither cowers at Baekhyun’s gaze nor worships the ground that he walks on. It’s a welcome change from how the rest of the world (beyond his closest friends) has treated him in the past.

Actually, for the most part, Jongdae has been nothing but perfectly polite to Baekhyun. He’s practically best friends with Kyungsoo, is animated and amiable around Junmyeon, and gets on well enough with the rest of the lower executives on their floor. But every time he’s had to speak directly to Baekhyun, he’s given nothing but a detached, courteous attitude and tight-lipped smile. Nothing at all like the radiant beams that Kyungsoo’s been gifted with.

Jongdae certainly hasn’t made an effort to learn _Baekhyun’s_ manga preferences.

He would go talk to Jongdae himself, if he wasn’t afraid of open distaste and dismissal. Not that he thinks Jongdae is capable of that since he’s so nice, but Jongdae pretending not to hate him whilst wishing for him to leave would be even worse.

Now that he really thinks about it, Baekhyun is kind of annoyed. He has no idea why Jongdae’s keeping him at arm’s length. And now that he really thinks about it, Baekhyun realizes that he might be paying too much attention to his new secretary.

 _It’s just because I want his respect as his superior_ , Baekhyun tells himself in frustration. But even then, sometimes he feels like it might be a little bit more, even as he can’t put a name to the feeling.

Until.

The feeling is _attraction,_ Baekhyun realizes all at once one day when Jongdae looks up from his desk and shoots him a tentative smile as Baekhyun is angrily frowning in Jongdae’s direction whilst grumbling and shaking his jammed stapler. Baekhyun feels his heart do a flip.

 _Oh god please no_ , his brain thinks. _This is not happening._

Quickly, he returns a wobbly, uneasy expression that he hopes looks like a smile and then proceeds to throw himself wholeheartedly into his work for the next few days. He doesn’t look back towards Jongdae’s desk.

\---

Jongdae has been pleasantly surprised to learn that most of the internet gossip and tabloid rumors surrounding Byun Talent Agencies is not true in the slightest bit.

For starters, Do Kyungsoo, Chief Operations Officer, is actually happy working for Baekhyun, even if his cool demeanor suggests otherwise. The same goes for Kim Junmyeon, Chief Financial Officer, although he looks constantly stressed out. But Jongdae learns that it’s just how Junmyeon is as a perfectionist and as a person, and Baekhyun is the one giving him time off, reminding him to use his paid vacation days, and making sure he takes care of his personal health. From what Jongdae’s observed, the three chiefs are a lot closer than they appear to the general public, being able to joke around with each other in the office and meet up for lunch outside of work hours.

It turns out that Baekhyun does more than his fair share of work, isn’t lazy at all, and doesn’t take advantage of the work abilities of any of his junior executives or lower management team. Truthfully, a week after starting work on the topmost floor, Jongdae had already decided that he wasn’t going to go through with Chanyeol’s suggestion. He knows his best friend meant well and is duly worried for him, but it wouldn’t be right. He’s also decided that he and Chanyeol were both idiots for believing everything they read online about celebrities.

Jongdae knows that he’s terribly misjudged Baekhyun’s character, and part of him wants to apologize to his boss for making assumptions, but the other half of him knows Baekhyun wouldn’t know what he’s apologizing for, probably doesn’t even care about others’ (strangers’) opinions of him. But his own mistakes make it hard for him to be able to look Baekhyun in the eye - out of fear that he’ll see right through him down to the shame and embarrassment curling inside Jongdae’s stomach.

The only thing that Jongdae can’t figure out is why Baekhyun always gives him unpleasant looks, since there’s no possible way he could have known. Just last week after he’d successfully convinced Kyungsoo to bake more cookies with a signed copy of his favorite manga, Baekhyun’s lips had twisted and his boss had looked like he was going to crumple the paper in his hand.

And then earlier this week when Jongdae had felt eyes on his person, he’d glanced up and noticed Baekhyun with an angry expression, about to hurl a stapler at him. Panicked, he’d smiled back in hopes of defusing the tension and Baekhyun responded with a grimace. His boss has been avoiding him since.

He doesn’t know why Baekhyun is so upset with him. Junmyeon and Kyungsoo have both praised him for his work more than once.

Jongdae doesn’t think it’s his outspoken nature either, because he saw the approval glinting in Baekhyun’s eye when he first arrived and didn’t hesitate to defend himself when another of the lower executives had sneered at a mistake in his meticulous scheduling and then rudely told him that he wasn’t competent enough for the job.

Maybe it’s just him, then. Jongdae sighs and goes to refill his coffee mug.

\---

How many times has he told Kyungsoo not to listen to anime OSTs at work? Definitely too many times, Baekhyun is sure of it. He can make out a beautiful, sweet voice singing in a high octave from the break room closest to Kyungsoo’s cubicle. It sounds beautiful, but is highly distracting to the point where Baekhyun hasn’t been able to get work done for a solid five minutes because he’s too busy hanging onto every lilting note and trying not to fall out of his chair. Baekhyun rolls his eyes and heads to the source of the noise, ready to threaten to fire his friend on the spot if it’ll get him to finally quit his habit.

Which is why it comes as a surprise when Baekhyun storms into the copy room, pointer finger raised high in the air - only for Jongdae to spin around guiltily with a coffee mug in hand. The singing abruptly stops.

Baekhyun was so distracted that he hadn’t stopped to think about how the voice was singing in Korean and not Japanese.

“Were you singing?” he demands before he can stop himself. _Way to go, Baekhyun._

Jongdae gulps. “No?” he lies in a shaky voice. “What makes you think that?”

“Oh, stop that,” Baekhyun says with a flourish of his hand. “I know you were. In case you haven’t noticed, we’re the only two people in this vicinity.”

“If you already knew, then why did you ask?” Jongdae asks, incredulously waving his mug. He stops when the beverage inside it almost splashes out onto Baekhyun’s pristine floors.

“Why do you hate me so much?” Baekhyun questions in a reasonable tone instead of answering the question. Rather than calm Jongdae down, his employee only looks more astounded, possibly by Baekhyun’s cluelessness.

“Why do I hate you? You mean why do you hate me!” Jongdae corrects, unintentionally raising his voice above the appropriate office volume. “Forgive me for yelling, Mr. Byun, but I haven’t done anything wrong. I know my work is more than satisfactory, and I get along well with everyone else, so why do you always send me dirty looks whenever you’re not refusing to even look at me?”

Jongdae’s cheeks are flushed from all the shouting and arm-waving, and the sight is more distracting than it should be because all Baekhyun can think about is how pretty the other man looks. So much so that he almost misses Jongdae’s words.

“What?” Baekhyun gapes. “That’s not - no, this is all a misunderstanding!” At Jongdae’s unconvinced expression, Baekhyun softens a little bit. “Mr. Kim, I have nothing against you. Really. You’re a fantastic secretary. It’s just - I thought you didn’t like me. You never seem to talk to me much unless it’s absolutely mandatory, and like you said, you get along with everyone else, so I thought it was just me, and I didn’t want to burden you with my presence.”

His words bring a reluctant smile to his secretary’s face, the corners of Jongdae’s curvy lips tugging upwards into an involuntary smile. “Neither of us hate the other, then?” Jongdae answers his own question with a shake of his head. “I don’t hate or dislike you. In fact, I respect you a lot. I think you just caught me by surprise, is all. I wasn’t expecting you to be so -” He can’t find the right word and waves his free hand in the air helplessly, at a loss.

“So what?” Baekhyun asks, genuinely curious. At the guilty expression that creeps its way onto Jongdae’s face, he understands. “Oh. You were expecting me to be horrible. The media isn’t exactly very kind to me, is it?”

The light in Jongdae’s eyes momentarily diminishes as he grimaces at the floor, gaze burning a hole through the tile. “No,” he admits quietly. “They’re not.” Then, even quieter as though he half-hopes that Baekhyun won’t catch his whispers, “I’m sorry.”

“It’s not your fault, Mr. Kim,” Baekhyun tells him understandingly. “Everyone who’s name is known by the public has to endure their name being painted in a less-than-favorable light.” At that, Jongdae looks up sharply.

“That’s not what I meant,” he says, harsher than he meant to be. He sucks in a deep breath, his eyelids fluttering closed for the barest of seconds, before he loudly exhales. “What I meant is, I’m sorry for making baseless assumptions about you, Mr. Byun.”

Baekhyun attempts to appear nonchalant, but privately, Jongdae’s apology means very much to him. It’s a small victory that he’ll happily take. “Apology accepted,” Baekhyun says, letting one side of his lips quirk up into a soft smile. “Also, you can call me Baekhyun, you know.”

“No- no way. I can’t,” Jongdae says, looking at Baekhyun like he’s lost his mind. “You outrank me by so much, I couldn’t possibly -”

“Yes, you can possibly,” Baekhyun interjects in that stubborn way of his. “Everyone else on this floor does, so you can too. I don’t mind. There’s no need for all of us to be so formal with one another.”

Jongdae still looks wary, but he reluctantly concedes. “Then in that case, you have to call me Jongdae.”

Baekhyun doesn’t even protest (he’s been calling him by that name in his head anyway). “Alright then, Jongdae - what was the name of the song you were singing?”

With all the confessing going on, he’d almost forgotten about the reason that he came into the room to begin with. Clearly, by the ‘deer caught in headlights’ look plastered on Jongdae’s face, his employee had been hoping for that outcome. Jongdae suddenly becomes very interested in his shoelaces, a telltale red flush crawling up the side of his neck and captivating Baekhyun.

“I was just fooling around,” Jongdae says uncertainly. “It’s a song my best friend wrote during college. I’ve always thought it was beautiful.”

So did Baekhyun, just then. “Your best friend is definitely very talented,” Baekhyun muses. “So are you, for that matter. You have a lovely voice. It’s too bad that neither of you ever auditioned to be trainees.” Baekhyun assesses Jongdae critically through CEO eyes, taking in the honey-like voice and attractive appearance. “I could have made you a star.”

Jongdae shrugs with one shoulder upon hearing Baekhyun’s words, still staring down at his feet. One hand absently plays with the fraying hem of his sweater. “Yeah,” he agrees, seemingly lost in thought. “I don’t know. My parents never wanted the idol life for me. And to be honest, it’s not something I would have chosen for myself either. I don't think I could handle having everyone judge my every action, just waiting for me to mess up so they can tear me to shreds.”

Baekhyun smiles wryly, Jongdae’s description sounding all too familiar to tired ears. “I can affirm that being the public’s personal punching bag certainly isn’t an easy job.”

\---

With the misunderstanding between himself and his boss cleared up, Jongdae’s life in the workplace is so much easier.

There’s no more awkwardness between them, except for possibly the occasional charged eye contact that both men look away from quickly when they’re caught staring at one another, cheeks reddening and throats clearing. Otherwise, both of them have loosened up and warmed towards each other. They’re able to engage in interesting conversation and act around each other just like they would around any other member of the floor, without veiled hostilities or hidden agendas. It’s certainly helped their individual productivities.

For the most part, Baekhyun still seems the same way he did before: powerful, hardworking, and determined. Somewhat intimidating (very intimidating to most people, probably, but Jongdae’s always been a fearless person). But now Jongdae thinks that along with the authoritative image, he also gets the occasional glimpse of Baekhyun’s softer side, like when he draws smiley faces on the post-it notes for Jongdae with his tasks written on them, or when he stops by his employees’ desks with fresh coffee. In a way it’s always been there for anyone to see, but Jongdae hadn’t wanted to look for it before.

It’s amazing what a change of perspective can do, Jongdae muses as he powers down his computer and gets ready to go home for the day, sliding his belongings into his messenger bag and slinging it over his shoulder. All of the other members on their floor have already left, he realizes as he walks past dark office after dark office, but Jongdae had wanted to finish working around this one last scheduling conflict before leaving, or he knows he wouldn’t have been able to quit worrying about it for the rest of the night. He doesn’t remember seeing Baekhyun leaving, but figures that his boss must’ve, as only the light in the main hall is still on.

Which is why Jongdae reacts like a rabbit in the face of predators when he reaches the main hall, startling when he finds it occupied and not empty as he’d expected.

“Don’t step there!” a voice exclaims. Jongdae retracts his foot from where it had been about to step onto the shiny floor so fast that he almost loses his balance. When he’s got himself steadied, he looks up to find his boss staring at him, wet mop poised in hand and bucket of cleaning solution by his feet.

“You’re still here?” Baekhyun says in surprise.

“The CEO is mopping?” Jongdae rushes out, equally shocked. _Isn’t this someone else’s job?_

Baekhyun waves a hand lazily. “Don’t look so surprised. This isn’t so hard to do that I have to hire someone else for it.”

“But you’re -” _Byun Baekhyun_ , Jongdae was going to say, but he promptly swallows his words when Baekhyun raises an eyebrow at him as if to challenge _so what?_ Jongdae remembers the conversation that they had not too long ago in the break room and decides to remain silent.

“Anyways,” Baekhyun says, interrupting Jongdae’s train of thought. “I’m almost done. I just did the area by the elevator, though, so it’s probably not dry yet. So…” He does some planning in his head, turning around and scanning the room. Jongdae can practically make out the gears in Baekhyun’s mind rotating. “I guess you can walk over to that part by that supply closet and wait until I’m finished.” Baekhyun quickly examines how much work he still has left to do. “Yep, the floor should be dry by then. I’m sorry for the inconvenience, I didn’t know you were still here or I would’ve done the elevator side first. I hope you don’t mind waiting.”

“I don’t mind at all,” Jongdae says quickly, fumbling with his words, and when there’s nothing else to say he dashes over to the supply closet where Baekhyun had directed. He watches in awe as Baekhyun drags his mop back over the footprints that Jongdae left, and then carries on to the remainder of the hall, moving strategically so that he’s able to mop over all the prints his own shoes create, leaving nothing but squeaky clean floor in his wake. Part of Jongdae still can’t believe that someone of Baekhyun’s position mops his own company’s floors rather than hire someone else to do it.

It can’t have been fifteen minutes before Baekhyun is completely done with mopping and has made his way with his cleaning supplies all the way to Jongdae’s side. He gestures with a hand for Jongdae to move away from the supply closet door so he can walk in and set everything back in its spot. Scratching the back of his neck, Jongdae obliges and notes with a frown behind Baekhyun’s body that the patch of floor that leads to the elevator still isn’t dry.

“Okay,” says Baekhyun, putting the mop back in the supply closet and shutting the closet door. He follows Jongdae’s gaze and must notice their dilemma. Jongdae, already feeling somewhat awkward, doesn’t know what he expected Baekhyun to do next, but it certainly wasn’t for him to crouch down a bit and then say, “Hop on.”

“I - what?” Jongdae splutters in response to Baekhyun’s bizarre behavior. “ _Hop on?_ What in heaven’s name do you think you’re doing?”

“Giving you a piggyback ride, of course. Less footprints,” Baekhyun points out as if it were an obvious thing. “I literally just mopped the floor. I’m not having them dirty up again so quickly.”

Jongdae stares at his boss, wondering if he needs a new pair of ears.

Baekhyun sighs and straightens up. “Look, you should be grateful. Whenever Kyungsoo stays behind with me and someone screws up, I make _him_ give _me_ the piggyback rides.”

“What kind of office is this?” Jongdae demands. “Why does anyone have to be giving anyone else piggyback rides?”

“Mine,” snaps Baekhyun, bending down again. “And because I said so. Now hurry up and climb on my back or I’m jumping in your arms. One of us is going to carry the other to the elevator whether you like it or not because _I. Just. Mopped_.”

“I can’t believe you,” Jongdae retorts exasperatedly, desperately searching for another solution that doesn’t involve intimate contact. “Of all the stupid things to be picky about.” However, when Baekhyun shows no signs of budging, he briefly weighs his choices before he finally gives in and hands Baekhyun his bag. Jongdae gets into place a few feet behind his boss, and after muttering a quick heads-up, he jumps.

Baekhyun lets out a soft _oof_ when Jongdae leaps onto his back, his hands scrambling to support Jongdae’s legs, which immediately go to wrap around his boss’s waist because he doesn’t entirely trust Baekhyun not to drop him flat on his ass. There’s a bit of shifting until they find a good balance, and all the while Jongdae is chanting in his head _this is not awkward, this is not awkward, this is not awkward_.

It is painfully awkward. At least Baekhyun tries not to acknowledge it.

“You’re really heavy,” he comments lightly once they’ve stabilized, and Jongdae scowls at the back of Baekhyun’s head.

“Give me back my bag,” he grouches, yanking it out of Baekhyun’s hand and looping the strap around his neck so that the messenger rests securely on the small of his back. The other man laughs, a delightful melody that echoes in the empty hall and sends vibrations rumbling into Jongdae’s chest from where it’s pressed into Baekhyun’s body.

Baekhyun probably isn’t entirely joking though, because he starts moving as fast as he can across the floor in the direction of the elevator, without actually running and risking slipping to the floor. They must make a comical sight, Jongdae perched on his boss’s back and Baekhyun doing a close imitation of a slowed-down _Naruto_ run. Apparently Jongdae’s just that heavy. Or maybe Baekhyun is just weak. Jongdae wants to believe the latter is true.

Upon reaching the elevator successfully, Baekhyun lets go of Jongdae without warning and he yelps as he slides off from Baekhyun’s back, his messenger bag swinging wildly and almost crashing to the floor. Jongdae’s about to yell at Baekhyun because his _laptop_ is in that bag, but the other interrupts him before he can even get a word out, smiling cheekily and saying, “So that was fun.”

Jongdae briefly considers punching him. Instead, he slams his own mouth shut and fixes the CEO with a glare before turning and jabbing the button to summon the elevator.

By the time the elevator finally arrives at their floor, Jongdae is too tired to pretend to be angry anymore. “Thank you for not making me carry you,” he says overly sincerely to Baekhyun as he steps in and pushes the button for the lobby. “You look like you’d be a dead weight.”

Baekhyun’s mouth falls open in mock disbelief as Jongdae snickers loudly. The rest of the elevator ride is silent, but not uncomfortably so.

When they get to the lobby, Baekhyun steps out first and waves goodbye to Jongdae. “My car’s in the garage,” he says as an explanation, walking backwards toward the other exit. Jongdae nods and calls out a “See you tomorrow!” before he turns to leave through the main entrance, thinking about how Baekhyun’s eyes twinkle like fairy lights when he laughs and how his office is full of surprises.

On his way home through the city, Jongdae realizes with a start that Baekhyun mopping floors is less about not wanting to hire someone else to do it than it is about choosing to do the work simply because it humbles him and reminds him of everyone who wasn’t fortunate enough to be born into a wealthy family. Everyone like Jongdae who’s had to work their way up. The thought makes one side of his mouth grudgingly curve up into a smile.

\---

After the mopping incident, Baekhyun thinks that some invisible barrier between himself and his secretary has finally fallen. A sizeable portion of his time is now spent on subtly flirting with Jongdae at the workplace, which is probably wildly inappropriate but Baekhyun is the boss and he doesn’t care a bit, not when Jongdae’s trousers are so well-tailored and his sweaters make him look all soft and cute.

Also, Jongdae has a really cute butt.

Baekhyun thought he didn’t like guys, but it appears that he was stupidly wrong. At the same time, he can’t bring himself to fret, not when Jongdae is the brightest and most luminous person he’s met - and Baekhyun might as well fling himself into the sun. Because Jongdae is entirely oblivious to his flirting.

Baekhyun is lying back in his chair, staring at the ceiling and mourning his poor heart, when he hears footsteps approaching, and then someone interrupts his moping.

“What are you thinking about?” Jongdae asks curiously, disrupting Baekhyun’s reverie as he places a stack of files on Baekhyun’s desk. He gently deposits an origami paper crane with hearts and smiley-faces and flowers doodled on the wings next to the files and then pauses to adjust a tape dispenser designed to look like a snail that’s crooked. If he thinks Baekhyun’s choice of office supplies is childish, he doesn’t say so.

“Nothing,” says Baekhyun, too quickly to be natural as he stares at the folded crane, feeling a blush creep up his neck. He hopes Jongdae can’t see his embarrassing thoughts written all over his face. Jongdae raises an eyebrow at Baekhyun’s lack of explanation.

“I’m thinking about the best way to force Kyungsoo to come to this year’s Christmas office party,” Baekhyun lies, changing the subject. Then he gets an idea. “Speaking of which, are you coming?”

Jongdae shrugs. “I might, if I’m not doing anything better. Which I probably won’t be. Where is it going to be held?”

“Probably on one of the lower floors,” Baekhyun says. “Junmyeon hasn’t decided yet, but that’s always where it’s been in the past.” He declines to mention the renovations that they had to do after the disaster that came in the form of an electrical fire at last year’s party.

Nodding his head, Jongdae asks, “Do you think Junmyeon needs help planning? I’ve pretty much finished all of my tasks for the next week or so.”

Baekhyun brightens and sits up straight so quickly that he almost falls out of his chair. “That’s a really good idea. I’m sure he would appreciate the help.” Not only would Junmyeon appreciate the assistance with planning, but _Baekhyun_ would appreciate Jongdae spending more time with Junmyeon. Because this would mean that Baekhyun can get Junmyeon to find out what Jongdae wants for Christmas. It’s a win-win situation.

“Sounds great.” Jongdae’s lips pull up at one corner into a half-grin, making Baekhyun’s heart thump erratically as he mentally congratulates himself. He tries hard not to think about the perfect picture that is Jongdae’s smile for the rest of the day.

\---

Trust Baekhyun to be late to his own company’s Christmas party.

Jongdae knows that the other is late, because his eyes have been permanently glued to the doorway of the entrance ever since the party started an hour ago. Junmyeon has been constantly reassuring him for the past hour that he shouldn’t worry, that Baekhyun is always late to these parties, but still Jongdae can’t resist glancing at the door every few minutes.

_How did he fall so deep so quickly?_

“He’s on his way, really,” Junmyeon laughs as he passes Jongdae a champagne flute. “Stop thinking about it and go say hi to the others from our floor! And, you know, have some alcohol while you’re at it or something so all the money I spent doesn’t go to waste. You look like you could use some for your nerves.”

He isn’t wrong. It’s a good thing that Jongdae listened to him, because a bit of champagne later, he’s feeling too serene to really be startled that much. This is working out to his advantage, because Jongdae really thinks that he might have died if Baekhyun had snuck up on him like that if he was still sober. He doesn’t know when Baekhyun finally arrived, but Jongdae can tell by the sweetness of Baekhyun’s breath that he’s been at the party long enough to get partly drunk as well.

“Do you want to get out of here?” Baekhyun whispers, leaning his chin on Jongdae’s shoulder as he’s talking to Kyungsoo, and Jongdae realizes in his half-drunk stupor that _yes, he would like that very much._

When he tries to articulate this to Baekhyun, though, his tongue decides to tie itself in knots, and Baekhyun laughs loudly as he plants a kiss on Jongdae’s cheek. Kyungsoo’s eyebrows disappear into his hairline.

Outside the company building, the night air is cold as it slices past them and makes them pull their coats tighter around themselves, giving them time to clear their senses and clarify their thoughts. Baekhyun’s hand clasped around his elbow is warm, though, so Jongdae doesn’t mind the harshness of the weather as he leads the other through the winding streets of Seoul back towards his apartment. On the way home, he texts his roommate, letting Chanyeol know not to come back tonight.

He gets a wink emoji back in response, along with a confirmation that Chanyeol will be staying over at Jongin’s if Jongdae happens to need anything.

When they finally reach Jongdae’s front door, his knees are shaking, although he can’t tell if it’s because of his nerves or the wind. Baekhyun wraps his arms around Jongdae’s middle from behind as he latches eagerly onto Jongdae’s neck, and Jongdae nearly drops his keys in the middle of unlocking the door.

Upon successfully entering the apartment, there’s a few minutes in which Jongdae just lets himself be backed up against the wall and kissed senseless. Baekhyun kisses the same way that he runs his company: meaningfully, with clear intent and purpose as he licks into Jongdae’s mouth and uncovers in record time all of the spots that make Jongdae gasp. It’s not long before Jongdae’s been reduced to a writhing, shivering mess, struggling not to fall over as Baekhyun gently drags him to Jongdae’s bedroom (how Baekhyun knows which room is his, he doesn’t ask).

To Jongdae’s surprise, after Baekhyun pushes him down on the mattress in the center of the room, he doesn’t make a move to take off Jongdae’s clothes, or his own. Instead, Baekhyun flops down on the bed right beside him, snuggling close to Jongdae’s side and moving one of Jongdae’s arms around his body. While Jongdae is torn between asking Baekhyun what he’s doing and _shutting up and enjoying what life is gifting him_ , Baekhyun reaches down and tugs the blankets up and around them. Under normal circumstances, Jongdae might loudly complain that wearing work clothes in bed is _disgusting_ and frankly pretty dirty, but he figures that his life stopped being normal the moment he met Baekhyun.

Also, with Baekhyun nuzzling his neck like that, he kind of forgets to care about anything else but the man next to him in his arms (Jongdae was expecting there to be more sex, but actually, this is better than sex). He’s not complaining.

“What are we doing?” Jongdae manages to ask breathlessly, twisting his body so that he’s angled towards the other man. Baekhyun whines as he moves and ends up shifting his own body so that he’s pressed even closer against Jongdae, making him laugh. “Baekhyun, there’s enough space for both of us on this bed. You don’t need to squish me to death.”

Baekhyun frowns. “But I want to be close to you.”

There’s such a sharp contrast between the cuddly, puppy-like Baekhyun and the fiend that was attacking Jongdae’s neck a mere two minutes ago that Jongdae isn’t sure whether they’re the same person or not. There’s an even bigger difference between the presence that Baekhyun commands as a CEO and his personality outside of his company that it’s easy to forget, Jongdae realizes with a start, that Baekhyun is only a few months older than himself.

 _How different their upbringings must have been_ , he thinks. _How much pressure Baekhyun must have had growing up; it couldn’t have been easy._ “Can you fall asleep like this?” Jongdae teases with the intention of both embarrassing Baekhyun and lightening the atmosphere, but it backfires when Baekhyun nods vehemently and says with equal fervor, “ _Yes_.”

Jongdae hopes that his blush isn’t too visible in the darkened room.

They end up talking for what feels like hours before finally falling asleep. Jongdae isn’t even sure what they talk about, only that he feels comfortable sharing anything and everything with Baekhyun because the other makes him feel _safe,_ secure and protected against the harsh world run by the media _._

Baekhyun ends up falling asleep first (or at least Jongdae thinks he does), and shortly afterwards Jongdae does too, nestled securely in Baekhyun’s warm embrace and guided by the gentle lull of his even breathing as much as the steady rise and fall of his chest, feeling for the first time since getting notice of his debt that life will work itself out.

\---

It’s a text tone that wakes Baekhyun up in the morning more so than the sunlight streaming in through Jongdae’s curtains or the birds chirping away noisily outside the window. When he looks at the sleeping man next to him and remembers the previous night’s events - all the cuddling and kissing - Baekhyun feels a surge of affection well up in his chest, threatening to choke him.

Remembering the alert that woke him up, Baekhyun reaches for Jongdae’s phone lying on the bedside dresser with the intent to switch the ringer off and go back to sleep, but curiosity is what prompts him to tap on the screen so he can see the notification. He doesn’t mean to intrude on Jongdae’s privacy, but he’s honestly curious as to who could be texting so early in the morning.

 _Have u gotten your boss to sleep with u yet?_ the message reads, sent from someone called Chanyeol who has three emojis by his name. Baekhyun recognizes the name, and his blood runs cold. Even if he hadn’t heard Jongdae address Chanyeol as his best friend and roommate, the spattering of emojis would have clued him in to their close relationship. As Baekhyun stares at the first text, trying to make sense of it and hoping it doesn’t mean what he suspects it might, a second message comes in.

_Better get a move on if u want ur debts to be paid off :/_

Baekhyun feels something inside his chest shatter as the implications of Chanyeol’s text register in his mind. He thinks it might be his heart. So, everything that Jongdae told him about Chanyeol, about his best friend having a passion for music and composing the song he was singing in the coffee room, all of it was carefully constructed to extract the most sympathy from him. Everything Jongdae said about not being able to handle the idol light and being afraid of being judged - all of it was lies. And like a fool, Baekhyun let himself be convinced by cheeky gazes and shy smiles.

 _How tragic_. It’s like he didn’t grow up having to tell which of his friends genuinely liked him for him and which of them were only after his money or family legacy.

 _It’s too bad he’d never signed Jongdae to his label as an actor,_ Baekhyun thinks as he leaves Jongdae’s apartment with a heavy heart, even as he’s blaming himself for catching feelings.

\---

The first thing that gives Jongdae cause for concern when he wakes up is the fact that the spot next to him is both empty and cold. Baekhyun is nowhere to be found, and clearly, he’d left long ago. Jongdae instantly knows that everything has gone to hell because unless Baekhyun had regrets about snuggling together and opening up about their lives he’d still be here (or at least he would have left a note or _something_ explaining his absence to Jongdae). The longer Jongdae sits in bed wondering what went wrong, the more Baekhyun’s absence becomes glaringly obvious and Jongdae doesn’t know when he’d gotten so attached.

When he finally glances over to his bedside dresser and spies his phone on the table with the screen open to his texts with Chanyeol, Jongdae understands that the situation is much worse than he’d thought.

\---

Baekhyun wants to fire Jongdae immediately before anything else, but when he informs Junmyeon and Kyungsoo of his decision over lunch, the other two look so stricken with panic that Baekhyun wonders if he misspoke and informed them instead of his plans to kill their pets or something equally ghastly.

“Jongdae is literally the most competent person you’ve ever hired and the most competent help _we’ve_ had on this floor,” Kyungsoo says bluntly. “Why would you fire him?”

“I’m inclined to agree,” says Junmyeon with a tilt to his head and a curious glint in his eyes. “He’s offered so many helpful solutions and suggestions for the betterment of the company. Please don’t. Why do you want to?”

Baekhyun stares at them, wondering how they haven’t noticed his coldness and hostility towards his secretary in the office. He tells his friends and fellow officials the entire story, watching as their expressions morph from shock, to confusion, to disbelief, and finally to poorly-concealed rage, at least on Kyungsoo’s part (Junmyeon has always been better at composing himself and his emotions). It gives him a mad sort of satisfaction to know that at least he isn’t the only person who’s suffering from the knowledge of Jongdae’s hidden side; when Baekhyun’s finished with his narration, Kyungsoo looks like he’s going to be sick and Junmyeon has the expression of a mother who’s just been told that her son is a murderer.

“I will talk to him,” Kyungsoo says slowly, like he’s struggling to make himself breathe air normally. “As soon as we get back to the building.”

“I’ll find the time to as well,” Junmyeon adds softly. “There must be some mistake or misunderstanding.”

“As much as I want to believe that,” whispers Baekhyun, his eyes downcast. “I don’t know if we can, or we could just be kidding ourselves.”

“Still,” argues Junmyeon. “Jongdae? He isn’t like that. I refuse to believe it.”

“Think what you want,” Baekhyun snaps, too upset to try and level his tone as he pushes back his chair and stands up. “I’m heading back. Lunch break is over.”

\---

“You had better have a fucking good explanation,” Kyungsoo accuses as he storms into the coffee room where Jongdae is both refilling his mug and avoiding his boss. Jongdae flinches at the bitter tone in his friend’s voice; it doesn’t take a genius to guess what he’s referring to. Baekhyun has been avoiding him; he hasn’t seen the other man since the night they fell asleep in each other’s arms. 

He sees Kyungsoo as his chance to make Baekhyun understand, though, so Jongdae sighs before telling Kyungsoo to pull up a chair.

“It’s a long story.”

He’s planning on taking a while to explain the whole scenario.

\---

For the better part of a week, Baekhyun has been regretting getting so drunk and lowering his inhibitions, because otherwise he likes to think that he would’ve been able to resist that coy smile, those pouty lips. He doesn’t know how he went from being almost cold to Jongdae to pining after him, even though he’s still angry at him.

The worst part is that now he’ll have to live forever knowing what kind of lover Jongdae is - how he shifts closer to Baekhyun in his sleep, how the wrinkle in his brow smooths out when Baekhyun leans down to plant a kiss in Jongdae’s hair, how his fingers wrap tightly around Baekhyun’s upper arm like he never wants to let go. Baekhyun wishes he’d never found out; then it would be easier to walk away and deal with the emotions that are confusing him and clouding his judgement.

Jongdae is everything that Baekhyun needs in his life, everything that he can’t be for himself. He’s there to soften Baekhyun’s sharp edges and comfort him whenever the pressure of making tough business choices gets to him but also serve as the steadying force that keeps Baekhyun from collapsing. Not only do they balance each other out in the office, but they complement each other outside of it as well.

Discovering Jongdae’s betrayal hurts so much maybe because now the memories of Jongdae’s pliant body curled up in a bed around his own will be forever tainted with the knowledge that it was part of a ploy to extract money from him. The thought is enough to make Baekhyun take another gulp of the liquid that burns its way down his throat and dulls his senses. Kyungsoo had come to him with Jongdae’s side of the story and Junmyeon had told him not to go and drink himself into a stupor, but of course Baekhyun hadn’t listened to either one of them because he was too busy being angry at Jongdae. _Big surprise._

The doorbell rings, and Baekhyun already knows without checking who’s on the other side of his oak-paneled door. He has half a mind to ignore it, but the other person starts banging loudly on the door after a few seconds, and he really doesn’t want to make a scene if he calls security.

Baekhyun steels his nerves as he sets down his wineglass, taking a few deep breaths in. He trudges as slowly as possible to the front of his apartment, praying that maybe he’ll get lucky and whoever’s there will get bored and leave, but when he yanks the door open in one smooth movement (the action reminds him of ripping a bandage from a healing wound), he remembers that he’s never had the good fortune to be quite so lucky.

“Why are you here?” he demands angrily, blocking the doorway with his body. Jongdae looks up, startled; his guilty expression tells Baekhyun everything that he needs to know. Jongdae is here to beg for forgiveness, his job, a chance to explain - Baekhyun’s heard it all before, and he’s not interested.

But Jongdae looks so, _so guilty_. “Listen-” he begins, and Baekhyun is quick to cut him off.

“No,” he snarls, moving to shut the door in Jongdae’s face. He doesn’t want to listen, because he knows that if he does he might fall for the pretty words that pour out from those stupid, curvy lips, the ones that spew nothing but empty promises - he’ll fall for Jongdae’s lies again. “You should be happy I haven’t fired you yet. What do you want?”

“I don’t want anything!” Jongdae exclaims. “It’s not about the job. Baek-,” and Baekhyun has to resist a strong urge to punch Jongdae into the next century as he rambles on because _what gives him the right to use that name_ , “- it’s about us.”

“I don’t think there is an us anymore,” begins Baekhyun.

“- Baekhyun, you have to know. It might have started out like that, okay, but I’d long abandoned that stupid idea during my first week working for you! It wasn’t-,” Jongdae stops himself abruptly, then braces himself and carries on. “It was all real,” he says quietly but honestly, looking down at the floor so he doesn’t have to see the rejection in Baekhyun’s hardened gaze. “I love you.”

Baekhyun’s stupid, traitorous heart soars upon hearing the words, wishing that Jongdae could have said them five days earlier. He’s all too aware now that they could simply be a part of another elaborate scheme to win his trust before striking him like a cobra when he least expects it. But even though he knows better, it doesn’t stop his feelings from jumping for joy, at least until he squashes them down.

“That’s great,” Baekhyun says, letting his eyes dull. “I want you to leave.”

Baekhyun doesn’t wait for Jongdae’s answer, nor does he miss the hurt that crests so obviously, so painfully, over Jongdae’s features before he shuts the door in the other’s face.

\---

Jongdae resigns not too long after New Year’s. That’s all there is to it. He’s managed to convince both Junmyeon and Kyungsoo of his good intentions regarding Baekhyun, but a lot of good that’ll do if Baekhyun plans on isolating himself and not listening to anyone for the next decade or so. Besides, Jongdae decides, trying to convince himself that it’s not all so bad (despite the voice that reminds him of how long he spent hiding in his bed with water bottles and tissues; his bed reminded him of _Baekhyun_ sleeping in his bed and that made him want to cry even harder as he remembered Baekhyun’s rejection). What better way is there to show Baekhyun that he was never in it for the money? He’ll be able to walk away as long as he knows that he tried everything in his power to rectify his wrongs.

It’s clear that Jongdae can’t work with Baekhyun anymore. Whatever success he has at Byun Talent Agencies will be hindered by the situations he’s gotten himself into - his work is undermined by the fact that he is simply unable to go on as a secretary that speaks nothing but professional words to his boss in the workplace and is otherwise completely cut from Baekhyun’s life outside of it.

Sometimes he wonders - like now when Chanyeol’s helping his pack his things - if someone were to look too closely at Baekhyun’s heart, whether or not they’d find a Jongdae-shaped hole torn through the middle. He shudders to think of what his own heart must look like by now.

Jongdae hopes that the pain from the missing piece in his heart will dull as he gets used to living in another country. It’s time for a fresh beginning, one without matters of the heart to complicate things.

\---

A week after Jongdae’s resignation, Baekhyun hears from Kyungsoo that Jongdae received a job offer from a rival agency in China, headed by Lu Han. When Baekhyun asks if Jongdae’s taking the job, all he gets is a cold stare from Kyungsoo, before the other sighs.

“Use your brain, Baekhyun,” is all Kyungsoo had said before leaving the room. Baekhyun had taken that to mean that Jongdae accepted Lu Han’s offer, and he’d vowed not to think about the matter anymore.

Except not thinking about the issue is almost impossible. He thought he’d be better off if Jongdae quit because it meant that he didn’t have to see the other daily anymore, but he finds himself constantly missing Jongdae’s presence despite all the pain seeing him would bring.

Baekhyun gets _so_ unreasonably jealous every single damn time he hears Kyungsoo mention Lu Han’s name. As he imagines a pretty Chinese man with Jongdae by his side (what a good-looking couple they make!), their arms wrapped around each other and bodies leaning into each other’s sides, he’s struck with such blinding rage that it makes him wonder if his jealousy stems from a valid reason after all.

In his head, Baekhyun sees someone else leaving paper coffee cups for Jongdae as a pick-me-up in the mornings, another company’s competitive boss giving him piggy back rides across just-mopped floors, and someone that’s not _him_ getting to hold Jongdae’s hand discreetly under office party dinner tables, and Baekhyun realizes. Between staring at the origami crane that’s perched on his desk and the calendar hanging next to his head that’s filled with Jongdae’s neat handwriting and encouraging notes, Baekhyun realizes that he made a mistake.

He’s always been taught to follow his mind and not his heart, but no one ever told him that while business deals come and go, love is something that you have to fight to keep.

“I see you’ve finally realized,” Kyungsoo says dryly as he notes the horror slackening Baekhyun’s usually-controlled expression when Baekhyun shows up to his friend’s desk.

“I fucked up,” Baekhyun chokes out.

“Yes, you did,” Kyungsoo says, his eyes narrowing at Baekhyun in frustration. “He thinks you don’t love him back because of your stupid mouth that never thinks before it speaks, even though everyone else in the universe can see that you’re _gone_ for him.”

Baekhyun is too surprised to even deny Kyungsoo’s statements. “He hurt me,” he tries to defend himself.

“I’m sure he did,” growls Kyungsoo. “But then you broke his heart. And then walked over the shattered pieces for good measure. Baekhyun, did you really think he would have ever gone through with his friend’s suggestion?”

Baekhyun thinks of Jongdae and his refusal to let him help on financial matters, of Jongdae and his easy-going smiles, of Jongdae and his complete, unguarded _honesty._ And he has his answer.

“No,” says Baekhyun. “He wouldn’t have.” And then he ignores years of friendship rules to grab Kyungsoo’s hand, so his friend can understand just how serious he’s being. “I’m going to fix it, though, if you would just _help me please._ ”

Kyungsoo extracts his fingers from Baekhyun’s grip with furrowed brows. “I can give you his address. Fix it,” he says. “Before your work performance suffers even more than your physical well-being has.”

\---

Jongdae hadn’t been expecting his ex-boss to show up at his apartment. When the doorbell rang, he’d honestly thought Chanyeol had lost his keys again. If he’d known otherwise, he wouldn’t have answered the door.

“I made a mistake,” Baekhyun says without preamble, ignoring the way that Jongdae’s eyes immediately darken when he realizes who it is that’s at his door.

Baekhyun isn’t even supposed to know where he lives. He doesn’t want to know what Baekhyun resorted to in order to obtain his address. Jongdae opts to stay silent and send Baekhyun a glare, his mouth set into a flat, angry line, because no matter how influential, Baekhyun has no reason to suddenly arrive at Jongdae’s apartment. Jongdae doesn’t have anything left to say to him, so he just says, “Okay.”

As he’s moving to shut the door in Baekhyun’s face, however, Baekhyun shoves his foot in the doorway and pushes an elbow past the door, looking twice as determined as before. “I’m not finished.”

“I don’t care,” spits Jongdae, considering maybe just shutting the door on Baekhyun’s toes. “Kindly remove your person from my doorway.” He ignores the voice that’s yelling at him that he does care, that he should let Baekhyun talk.

“I should have trusted you,” Baekhyun continues, pretending like Jongdae hasn’t spoken at all. “Because I know what type of person you are, because I'm the one who fell in love with you.” Jongdae steels his expressions and wills his emotions not to show, but clearly, he’s doing a downright terrible job, because Baekhyun takes the way his eyes flash as an invitation to keep going. “Jongdae, I love you. Please believe me. I was just so hurt at the idea of everything being a pretense on your part all along that I pushed you away without giving you a chance to explain.”

“You said you didn’t love me,” tumbles past Jongdae’s lips before he can reel the angry accusation back in. “Now you’re trying to take it back? I poured out my heart, and you turned me away. I was getting ready to go to China, for fuck’s sake.” He yanks the door wide open, just so Baekhyun can see all of the packed cardboard boxes sitting around his apartment, full of things he had planned on taking with him.

Instead, Baekhyun steps inside the apartment quickly and shuts the door behind him, leaning back on it so that Jongdae can’t kick him out yet. “I know,” he says, struggling to keep his voice clear when it feels like tears might choke him if he doesn’t hold them back. He’s desperate for Jongdae to believe him, to _trust_ him. “I don’t want you to go. To China, or to anywhere else. I want you to stay and keep working with me, for me, whatever. Stay forever. I’m sorry, I lied.” Baekhyun takes another shuddering breath and this time some of the tears do spill past his eyelashes. “I’m in love with you. Jongdae, how you could not know?”

Jongdae opens his mouth to reply, but suddenly Baekhyun seems to decide that he’s not ready to hear whatever Jongdae’s going to say, so he barges on - he keeps giving, bombarding Jongdae with all of his feelings at once. “Don’t go to China. Who will talk about anime with Kyungsoo and remind Junmyeon to breathe and schedule my meetings and help plan the future Christmas parties? Our floor needs you.” Baekhyun sees Jongdae’s eyes soften with understanding, and his last request is almost too low to hear. “Choose Seoul. Choose me.”

There’s a beat of silence as Baekhyun waits, in which Jongdae just runs through the plethora of words that he knows in his head, realizing that all of them are inadequate when it comes to Baekhyun - he could have as many words as there are stars in the universe, and he’ll still never even come close to describing what Baekhyun does to his heart.

“You’re so selfish,” Jongdae finally gasps out disbelievingly, yanking Baekhyun close by his stupid, presumptuous tie and wrinkling the fabric with his grip in the process. When he’s drawn close, Baekhyun wants to lean forward that last inch, to remove the distance that’s separating them, _so badly_ \- but he doesn’t dare, because it has to be Jongdae’s decision.

He doesn’t need to worry, though. The last year may have ended with them being apart on New Year’s Day at the stroke of midnight, but even so - they’ve managed to make their way to each other again.

“God, I missed you,” Jongdae breathes out after a moment, his breath warm on Baekhyun’s face. In the next instant, he’s closing the distance between their lips. And to Baekhyun, it feels like coming home.

Baekhyun wants to say _I missed you, too_ but his mouth is occupied, so he presses himself as close as he can to Jongdae’s body and hopes that his actions do the talking for him, carrying the weight of all of the words that he's still afraid to say out loud lest the rest of the world hears and judges him for it.

\---

(Epilogue - one year later)

_[BREAKING] Singer/Rapper Park Chanyeol Releases Romantic New Single to Commemorate the Engagement of Byun Baekhyun (CEO of Byun Talent Agencies) and Kim Jongdae_

“Baekhyun! Did he tell you about this?” Jongdae screeches as he scrolls through the article that Kyungsoo texted him first thing in the morning.

Baekhyun looks up from where he’s attempting to fry bacon without burning their apartment down. So far, nothing has been set on fire, _yet._ “Did who tell me about what?”

“THIS!” Jongdae holds up his phone, and Baekhyun turns the stove off and walks closer so he can see. Instantly upon reading the title of the article, he pales and freezes in place. “Who showed you that article?”

“Kyungsoo did. Why?”

“Damn it, Kyungsoo!” At Jongdae’s raised eyebrow, Baekhyun blushes and sits down in the chair next to Jongdae’s. “Yeah, Chanyeol told me that he was going to write that song, and I agreed. You weren’t supposed to know about it until later.”

Jongdae’s look turns even more questioning. “Why not?”

Baekhyun groans and buries his face in his hands. “I had the whole thing planned out _so well_ \- the dinner and candles and stuff and then I was going to play the song for you and we were supposed to have really good sex tonight-”

Jongdae can’t help the laugh that bubbles up and out of his throat as he swats Baekhyun’s arm. “What for? You already proposed a month ago, Baekhyun, I am _already committed to marrying you_ ,” he says as he scoots closer, sliding partly into Baekhyun’s seat as he twines his arms around one of Baekhyun’s and leans his cheek on his fiancé’s shoulder, looking up with earnest eyes. Jongdae holds up his hand in front of Baekhyun’s face to emphasize his point; he doesn’t miss how Baekhyun’s eyes flash with admiration upon seeing his ring on Jongdae’s finger. “Sometimes I think you forget that you’re stuck with me forever.”

“I don’t forget,” Baekhyun murmurs, looking down at Jongdae with adoration (“heart eyes,” Chanyeol calls the expression; Kyungsoo always pretends to gag and Junmyeon just sighs appreciatively at their displays of affection). “I just don’t want you to ever regret loving me.”

“Aw, Baekhyunnie. You know I couldn’t.”

“So, I planned a dinner, right. It was supposed to be sweet.”

“That _is_ very sweet - considering you only learned how to cook a few weeks ago?”

“Hey.” Baekhyun pokes Jongdae’s cheek with a long, slender finger. “Okay, let’s not discuss my flaws-”

“Don’t worry,” Jongdae reassures, darting up to press a kiss to the corner of Baekhyun’s mouth. Baekhyun’s eyelids flutter shut as he chases Jongdae’s lips, making Jongdae smirk. “I love you despite them.”

Baekhyun’s gaze is a mixture of soft, fond, and loving when he opens his eyes again. He shifts forward ever so slightly, just enough to take Jongdae’s hand and lace their fingers together. “I love you too, Jongdae. Happy anniversary.”

“I already heard the song, by the way,” Jongdae admits. “Chanyeol played it for me before you planned the surprise dinner. He felt really bad when you told him. If it helps, I think he’s dedicating another three songs on his album to us?”

Baekhyun only smiles. “Ah, I knew signing Chanyeol to my label was a good decision. Do you think he could make our wedding playlist?”

“You should ask him. Happy anniversary, Baekhyun.”

 

 

**Author's Note:**

> (let's be friends on [twitter](http://www.twitter.com/wistfullywishes)! ♡)


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